‘That one decision change someone else’s life’: Sophie Delezio reveals ‘simple’ decision mums must make for their children

Sophie Delezio has issued a message for mums as she reveals new details about her own pregnancy journey, with her due date fast approaching.

She was the miracle child who survived two horrific car accidents before the age five.

As Sophie Delezio now awaits the birth of her own miracle baby, she has opened up about her hopes for her little boy and has lent her support to a campaign calling on expectant mothers to abstain from drinking alcohol while pregnant.

Ms Delezio has revealed she and fiance Joseph Salerno have already picked a “nice, sentimental name” they both love and can’t wait to meet their son.

“We were very lucky to have figured that out quite early on in the pregnancy, which has made it a bit a bit more personable for me and my fiance,” she said.

At 36 weeks pregnant, Ms Delezio revealed pregnancy has been a “whole new world of anxiety”, but she is adamant the couple won’t let what happened to her impact on how to raise their son.

“There’s so much you can’t control … you want to make sure that everything you’re consuming, everything you’re doing, is right for the child inside of you, but you don’t know how they’re going all the time,” she said.

“It’s very nerve wracking, but I’m excited to have him here and then not to have to worry about if I can eat a runny egg, silly things like that.”

Sophie Delezio is 36 weeks pregnant with her first baby. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Ms Delezio and her fiance Joseph Salerno are high school sweethearts. Picture: Instagram

Ms Delezio captured the hearts of the nation after she was trapped under a car that crashed through her daycare centre in 2003, leaving her with burns to 85 per cent of her body.

Ms Delezio lost both her legs below the knee, her right hand and right ear.

She was later involved in a second car accident in 2006 where she was thrown 18m from her wheelchair her nanny had been pushing near her Northern Beaches home.

Ms Delezio suffered several injuries, including a broken jaw, and had a heart attack.

While she said her own challenges weren’t preventable, Ms Delezio has issued an urgent appeal to parents to abstain from alcohol through all stages of pregnancy ahead of International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day.

The 23-year-old has seen the effects of FASD first hand, having had a friend growing up diagnosed with the disorder.

“It’s something that is 100 per cent preventable, so to see that one decision change someone else’s life, it’s quite surreal,” Ms Delezio said.

FASD can cause damage to the brain, affecting learning, memory, behaviour, language and decision making.

Ms Delezio urged mothers to abstain from alcohol during all stages of pregnancy. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

While new research from DrinkWise reveals there’s been a 10 per cent rise in women aged 18-44 agreeing that no amount of alcohol should be consumed during pregnancy, experts say more needs to be done as 27 per cent of Australians who had heard of FASD admitted they had a “very limited understanding of the condition”.

Ms Delezio said pregnancy is already full of “uncertainties, unknowns, and a lot of fears and anxieties”, with the decision to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy “simple”.

“There’s so much you can’t control in pregnancy and in life, but being able to make this one decision that will have this positive impact on my child – it’s really nice knowing that,” she said.

Ms Delezio said she hopes her son will ‘see the world’. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

With her due date fast approaching, Ms Delezio said her own accidents don’t make her worry for her son.

“I think it’s all about accepting that you can’t predict those bad experiences, hardships and those struggles in life,” she said.

“That gives me a sense of ease, knowing that what happened to me was so rare and out of the blue, and there was nothing that could have controlled those accidents … just accepting that life is pretty much like that.”

She said she has “nothing to hide” and she and Mr Salerno will navigate telling their son about her injuries at their own pace.

“I don’t want to instil fear of life into him, but I want him to know that we all have our own stories, and we all have our own backstory and abilities, I like to say, instead of disabilities,” she said.

“So it doesn’t matter necessarily how you look or what happened to you, that we’re all as capable as each other. So I think somehow intertwining my story into that message will somehow instil that, but, he has the right to know and I’ve got nothing to hide by telling him.”

Thinking ahead, she hopes her son will “see the world”.

“Whether that’s through experiencing different cultures within Australia, or travelling within Australia or internationally, I just hope he gets to experience different ways of life,” she said.

Originally published as ‘That one decision change someone else’s life’: Sophie Delezio reveals ‘simple’ decision mums must make for their children